62 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



this blot on the English system, by enacting 

 that no child shall be employed at any kind of 

 labour until he is of the age of ten, nor above 

 that age unless he can show a certain degree of 

 proficiency in education. This excellent rule is 

 a virtual compulsion of education, as parents 

 and employers alike are liable to penalties for 

 its infringement And as it is now accompanied 

 in all parts of the kingdom by the establishment 

 of duly regulated schools, no child can avoid an 

 elementary education, 

 their state The state of the agricultural labourer of the 



in some 



of the southern counties has long been the subject of 



southern 



reproach, and, till a recent period, not without 

 reason. In many parishes the average 



mending ra * e ^ wa g es was below the means of main- 

 taining a man's bodily strength adequate to 

 good work, and the result was that two men at 

 low wages was kept to do the work of one well- 

 paid labourer. The employer was a loser by 

 this ; and though he might be aware of it, he 

 could not help it, for there was a redundancy of 

 labour seeking employment, and which had to 

 be maintained either by wages or poor-rates. 



